Travel Gear

As you have probably seen, a ban for any electronic carry-on item larger than a cell phone is about to kick-in for flights to the US from 10 international airports including those in: Cairo, Egypt; Amman, Jordan; Kuwait City, Kuwait; Casablanca, Morocco; Doha, Qatar; Riyadh and Jeddah, Saudi Arabia; Istanbul, Turkey; and Abu Dhabi and Dubai, United Arab Emirates. There are a whole lot of flights to/from a whole lot of parts of the world that will connect in some of those cities to…

Flying with a baby or young kid can be hard enough, but add their gear to the mix and it can go to a whole new level. The big and bulky car seat can be a particular challenge if you don’t have a solid plan, so to make it a little easier here are some tips when flying with a car seat.

Oh car seat. How I love you for keeping my children safe and comfortable, but how I hate you for how complicated you can make family travel with little ones. We had escaped the carseat dilemma for a while as our six year old grew out of a traditional car seat and our baby cruised along very easily in the Doona that switches effortlessly from a car seat to a stroller and back again. But, our baby is now a one…

For the last 10 months we have had the absolute best of both worlds when traveling with my youngest daughter’s car seat/stroller combo called the Doona. It converts easily from a car seat to a stroller and back again making it exceptional both for a suburban lifestyle and for travel in cities like NYC where you are in and out of cabs, or even to Grandma’s house so that you can drive around town safely without having to rent or…

We are still unpacking from our recent trip to the Hyatt Ziva all-inclusive property in Mexico, and while it was an excellent trip overall (and I can’t wait to share more details about the property in the coming days), I first want to share eight truths of travel with an eight month old as I think it will help put context into any and all details that come next. We had both our 6 year old and 8 month…

Most parents who travel (or even just live) with babies and young children are desperate for any gear or gadget that can truly make their lives easier and their babies safer. There’s a ton of baby gear out there that isn’t really a game changer, but then there is the Doona Infant Car Seat. The Doona Infant Car Seat is truly a game changer for traveling families, and also those families who primarily travel around their own communities. The Doona is an infant…

As the mom of a young baby I’ll admit that my mind battles a bit against thinking through “worst case scenarios” for her. I have to push those sometimes terrifying images of dangerous things that can happen out of my mind, while at the same time learning from those thoughts if they are in some way warning me of potential hazards for her. When I hear of a ferry sinking somewhere in the world I think about what it would…

A question I get very frequently centers around how travel changes when a baby joins the family. The answer is more complicated than it seems because that baby then grows into a toddler, kid, etc. so travel changes not only with the baby, but really for the next 18 years…or longer. The good news is that many of the changes are actually for the better in many ways. I’ve written a very similar post before, but I wanted to update…

Recently I read a story on Flyertalk that I have heard many times before. The premise is that a family checks a car seat with an airline so that they have it to use for their little one when they land, only to find that it is broken or damaged when they pick it up from baggage claim. The next part that can be a surprise is that the airlines usually have some clause written somewhere that they aren’t responsible…

One common question that many new traveling parents have to think through is whether or not to bring a car seat for their baby to use in cabs on their travels. Last night a fellow BoardingArea blogger, and new mommy of a cute son, Angelina from Just Another Points Traveler, asked me that very question on Twitter, and it reminded me that I haven’t really talked about that issue very much here recently. For infants and the baby crowd, my…

About Summer

Well, I am a married mom in my mid-30's. I have two rock star, adorable, beautiful, fantastic, mischievous, humorous, smarter-than-my-own-good girls. One is currently 7 going on 17 and the other is closing in on her 2nd birthday. I am obsessed with my adorable and insane kiddos, and also obsessed with earning and using airline and hotel points and miles to show them the world on a budget we can afford. Learn more about Summer

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